Frank Duveneck (1848-1919) was born in Covington, KY, the son of German immigrant, Bernhard Decker, who died in a cholera epidemic when Frank was only a year old. Frank’s mother eventually remarried, becoming the wife of Joseph Duveneck, who adopted the young Frank. (Click images to enlarge)
Frank Duveneck
Covington, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati was a very Catholic and very German community. Before he was even 20 years old, Duveneck, a devout Catholic, was working as an assistant to a local craftsman creating religious paintings for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Covington. Later, he worked for another local German artist who had been trained in Munich, Germany, together they traveled to the East Coast and into Canada creating decorative work for churches. It was through these two Covington employers that Duveneck found encouragement to seek professional art training. He naturally chose to study in Munich and left for there in 1869 at the age of twenty-one.
“Portrait of a Fellow Artist” – 20″ x 16″ – Oil (1870)
“The Whistling Boy” – 27.75″ x 21″ – Oil (1872)
“Polling Landscape” – 16″ x 24″ – Oil (1881)
“Landscape, Polling, Bavaria” – 22.75″ x 30.75″ – Oil (1878)
His training in Munich was academic, concentrating on drawing the human figure, first from plaster casts of antique sculpture, and later in actual life drawing classes. His style became one of broad, loose brushstrokes and a dark palette, characteristic of the munich school. One can also see a similarity with the Dutch Old Masters, particularly the work of Frans Hals.
“Self Portrait” – 30″ x 33″ – Oil (1885)
“He Lives by His Wits” – 44.75″ x 28″ – Oil (1878)
Upon returning to America in 1873, he taught art for a short time at the Ohio Mechanics Institute in Cincinnati and received critical acclaim for his work both locally and in Boston. But things were to change…On his return to Europe a few years later, Impressionism was having a strong impact on the world of art as the academic tradition was considered tiresome. Duveneck began experimenting with plein air painting and through his association with others his palette became lighter and more Impressionistic. This stylistic change did not sit well with many as they preferred his earlier darker style, and considered his new work and style inferior to the former.
“Red Sail in the Harbor at Venice” – 20.75″ x 30″ – Oil (1884)
“Italian Courtyard” – 22″ x 33″ – Oil (1886)
In the second half of his life, Duveneck experienced great sadness in his personal life when his wife of only two years, Elizabeth Boott, suddenly died. He seems to have never really recovered from that loss.
“Portrait of Elizabeth Boott – Oil (1886)
“Through his connections in Cincinnati, New York, Munich, Paris, Venice, and Florence, Frank Duveneck touched the lives of more of his fellow late nineteenth-century American artists than almost any other painter. He was friend, counselor, and teacher to scores of artists, young and old, on both sides of the Atlantic, and his influence was pervasive and enduring. At his death the Cincinnati Museum of Art honored him as an artist preeminent as a painter, as an etcher, and also distinguished for his few works in sculpture. A teacher of his art, sought after by many pupils throughout his life, was held in continued reverence. He was an uncompromising searcher for truth in the practice of his art and in his judgement of the performance of others, yet always inspired by a tolerant kindness toward all who worked with sincerity, even though their achievement might be relatively small.”
The informational source and quotes for this article were gleaned from Wikipedia, and the book “Masterworks of American Impressionism from the Pfeil Collection.
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